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DORIAN: Press release went out and my phone is already ringing off the hook. Are you guys planning to rehearse today?
KINGSTON: Absolutely. Are we going to have to do a press conference?
DORIAN: I was thinking I’d invite a carefully curated handful of journalists we know and trust to rehearsal and you guys can answer questions one-on-one. What do you think?
KINGSTON: Not my favorite idea, but it’s probably the smartest. Does the rest of the band know?
DORIAN: I wanted to talk to you first because I know you hate having the press at rehearsals.
KINGSTON: I appreciate that, but we have to do what’s best overall. If you think this is the way to go, set it up.
DORIAN: All right. I’ll send a group text once I have the details.
KINGSTON: Thanks.
One down, half a dozen to go.
The message from my older brother made me laugh.
REMY: Onyx Knight is in the news again—what the fuck did you do?
KINGSTON: Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro. And I didn’t do anything. Unless you count hiring an extremely attractive new bass player to replace Carter.
REMY: Wait, THAT news is real? I thought it was some bullshit Dorian put out as a deflection because you got hit with another paternity suit or something.
KINGSTON: Ha ha. You’re hilarious. And yes, the news is real. Devyn Cates is our new bassist. You need to come to a show. She’s going to blow you away.
REMY: Yeah? You got anything coming up?
We talked about the upcoming show at the Whiskey and our plans for Christmas before ending the conversation.
I had messages from Sasha, Ford, and my housekeeper, so I dealt with those as quickly as I could before taking my coffee out to the balcony. As I passed the piano, the memory of Devyn and I sitting there together made me smile. I couldn’t explain this crazy attraction I was fighting, and that tease of a kiss she’d planted on me only made it worse.
Taking a sip of coffee, I wondered what it was going to take to stop lusting over someone I couldn’t have. Of course, there was always the possibility that I only wanted her this much because I couldn’t have her. It wasn’t like I couldn’t find female companionship. There were dozens of women in the contacts on my phone who’d jump at the chance to go out with me. Sleep with me. Breathe the same air as me. It was weird sometimes, seeing just how desperate some women were to get close to me.
It had been fun when I was younger, but my life was different now.
Or maybe it was me that was different.
I no longer enjoyed the idea of taking advantage of infatuated women just to distract myself from boredom or whatever else was going on. One-night stands on tour were different. Those women knew the deal and rarely did they expect anything more. But women whose numbers were in my phone, ladies I’d spent time with outside the bedroom, were the ones I worried about. When I was twenty, their feelings hadn’t seemed important. At thirty, I realized I was better than that. What kind of man took advantage of other people’s vulnerabilities? Just because I could didn’t mean I should.
Which brought me back to Devyn.
She wasn’t like anyone I’d ever been involved with.
Hell, the fact that she’d kissed me and then asked me to take her home spoke volumes.
She was more interested in the professional opportunity than in me, and part of me was honest enough to admit that hurt my feelings. Just a little. I respected it, and I really wanted to know what had happened with her old band, but it was the first time in a long time a woman had shot me down.
And I didn’t like it.
She’d made it clear she didn’t want to start anything, despite admitting there was an attraction, so I had two choices: respect her wishes and do the right thing or come up with a way to change her mind.
I already knew which one I was going to pick.
So much for being a better man.
* * *
